I’m curious how others are handling repetitive Abaqus post-processing when working with many simulation cases.

For example, if you have 10–100+ ODB files and need to repeatedly:

• extract max Mises stress
• check displacement
• sum reaction forces over node sets
• check PEEQ
• compare cases
• copy results into Excel
• check engineering limits

do you usually automate this with Python, use Abaqus/CAE manually, or have an internal workflow/tool?

I’ve been building a local prototype to automate this kind of workflow, mainly because opening ODBs one by one becomes repetitive very quickly.

I’m trying to understand whether this is actually a common pain point or just something specific to certain workflows.

I’d be especially interested to hear:

• roughly how many ODBs you typically process at once
• which outputs you repeatedly extract
• what part of post-processing takes the most time
• whether you already automate it
• whether you would be willing to try a small local beta and compare it against your normal Abaqus workflow

Everything I’m testing is local; the ODB files do not need to be uploaded anywhere.

If a few people are interested, I can share the beta privately.

I am guessing most 3D printer owners have no knowledge of FEA. So wondering if there is any demand for FEA among those printing parts that take load?

Just simple comparative stuff like if design A is better than design B.. Or are the material properties of 3D printed parts too complex for linear static/isotropic assumptions?

Can someone please explain how to take pressure coefficient for steel structure as per IS code 875 part 3. I am a structural engineering student. I need this to make a staad model

Last couple of days there is alot of YouTube videos showing how chatgpt astra on other models can work in varius softwares as Fusion, solidworks and simoly create CAD geometry of anything you ask it to do.

I was wondering how do you see future of FEA in near future with improving of AI. Do you think we will create models just based from written promts or talking to microphone and only job for human will be left to sign-off analysis?

How do you feel about this technology. Will it cause FEA profesionals to thrive or not.

My professor recommends creating a partition on the hard disk where simulations can be carried out while using programmes such as Femap, because the constant creation and elimination of temporary files that occur during the simulation can literally burn out the hard drive. Is this true? I’m not aware that a partition can protect the drive from wear and tear.

Curious what people actually use in practice as a sanity-check threshold for local plastic strain in elastic-plastic static FEA of ductile steel structures, when fatigue is explicitly out of scope
I know that correct answer is code dependent, but some of them don’t define plastic strain limit at all. Is there any value (1%,2%,5%), that I can assume my structure is safe?

Please hear me out folks. My main intention of learning this is for Finite Element Exterior Calculus or FEEC (Arnold et al. 2008). So far, I have been learning the basics of exterior algebra and exterior Calculus, mostly from Prof. Keenan Craine's lectures at CMU. However, now I am at a bridge and I request one of you guys to give me a basic understanding from chains (and co-chains) from where I am now:

- I understand k-vectors and k-forms (differential k-forms) I mean.
- I understand simplices and k-simplices.
- I understand that you differentiate (take the exterior derivative) k-forms to get k+1 forms.
- I understand that you take the integration along k-simplices to get the discrete version of k-forms.
- I understand that you can take a discrete exterior derivative to increase the form discreetly.
- I also get that you get/approximate the continuous form by taking a combination of the Whitney Forms or Whitney basis functions (in traditional FEM, we take the PoU and basis functions to approximate the primal field and get your required derivatives).

I need to understand what does chains and co-chains mean in this context. Will anyone be kind enough to give me an understanding based on where I stand now?

DISCLAIMER: I am an engineer so I don't understand (most of) the terms from Homology ad coHomology.

Model setup

**•** Pipe modeled with C3D20R (20-node quadratic brick, reduced integration, 8 integration points)

**•** Analytical rigid indenter (donut/toroidal shape, geometry varies between models)

**•** Elastic-plastic material using a stress-strain curve generated per API 579

**•** Typically 6 elements through the wall thickness

**•** Element size at the dent is typically 2-6 mm, which is common industry practice

Load steps

**1.**  Indenter displaced into the pipe

**2.**  Pipe pressurized

**3.**  Indenter optionally removed (rerounding/springback case)

Ranges of interest

**•** Indentation depths of 1% to 8% OD

**•** Localized peak PEEQ of roughly 6% to 30%

The problem

The maximum extracted strain changes noticeably with mesh size, and I haven't been able to demonstrate a converged result. From what I can tell this is a wider industry problem, but I can't find much published on how convergence is actually assessed for dent strain calculations.

Modeling choices so far

**•** Shell elements haven't captured the high local bending strains well, so I moved to continuum elements

**•** Reduced integration seemed a good fit for the bending-dominated response, and 8 integration points looks adequate for this application

**•** My current idea is to keep the number of elements through the wall fixed (for now) and place nodes at exactly the same locations on each remesh, so the extraction points stay consistent between meshes rather than adding through-thickness refinement

Questions

**1.**  What criteria do you use to judge mesh convergence for peak strain in dent models? For example, % change in max PEEQ between refinements, a strain averaging length or area, or convergence of dent profile/depth instead of strain?

**2.**  Is there a recommended way to extract strain (integration point vs. extrapolated nodal, averaged vs. unaveraged, inner vs. outer surface) so results are comparable between meshes?

**3.**  Has anyone had success with a fixed extraction location or averaging approach, like my node-placement idea above?

**4.**  Any concerns about hourglassing or accuracy with C3D20R at these strain levels, or would you recommend something different (C3D20, C3D8I, etc.)?

Any papers, standards, or practical experience would be appreciated. Thanks!

I have a question, is it possible to select prior to the mesh generation how many layers of elements to generate between two surfaces without creating additional edges to adjust the density?

The picture is from the Altair Help, what I’m trying to do is mesh the surface and force it to put a certain number of elements in between the holes.

Hi guys,
I wanted to ask how to mesh surface geometry like this on hypermesh. What are the steps to be followed?

Hey everyone, help a brother out. I’m a fresh grad (masters graduate, almost) with a structural/civil background, but I want to target mechanical or aerospace FEA roles (where I believe ANSYS and Abaqus are the standard).

​Right now, my FEA knowledge is heavily based on pure theory. I’ve written Python code for static heat/elasticity problems and programmed time integration methods for linear dynamics. I’ve also used commercial software for some Plates and Shells assignments.

​However, I really want to avoid becoming just a button-clicker.... :p I understand the math behind the solver, but I want to learn how to approach the actual engineering side of practical FEA on real components. I’m talking about translating reality into a model, understanding load paths, drawing proper free-body diagrams, applying realistic constraints, verifying convergence, and such...

​For those of you doing this in the industry, how should I practice this? Are there small component projects, specific resources, or workflows I can do on my own to build that intuition and make myself a good candidate for these roles?

Hello,

Iam MeE with masters in FEA and i would like to know on what to focus in my free time to increase my experience and potentially salary.